Straw hat



. MONTGQ'M'RY.

STRAW HAT.

APPLICATION FILED APRJB, 1921.

yPmmasept. 27, 1921.

M m rV: m

A TTUHNEYS UNITED STATES PATENT oFFicE.

ROBERT C. MONTGOMERY, OF BROOKLYN, NEW YORK, ASSIGNOR TO KNOX HAT COM- PAKNY, INCORPORATED, OF NET YORK, N. Y., A CORPORATION OF NEW YORK.

STRAW HAT.

Continuation of application Serial No. 255,731, iiled September 26, 1918.

Specification of Letters Patent.

15, 1921. Serial N0. 461,715.

T all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, ROBERT C. MONTGOM- ERY, a citizen of the United States, residing in the city of New York, borough of Brooklyn, county of Kings, and State of New York, have invented certain new and useful `Improvements in Straw Hats, of which the j following is a specification.

My invention relates to straw hats, and more particularly to stiifened straw hats having a` comparatively rigid rcrown and brim fixed immovably with respect to one y another and shaped once for all, as distinin various ways. No matter'how the stiftening is accomplished, however, such hats naturally suffer from the disadvantage of not being easily conformed to the shape of the wearers head. Ordinarily such a hat will y Contact with the head only at occasional points and is hence easily blown off in windy weather. If itis attempted to avoid this disadvantage and to effect a fit by possibly pressing the hat down upon the head, the blood vessels of the scalp will be unduly compressed and great discomfort will result as well as probable injury to the hair and scalp. v

rilhe sweat band, either in its usual form or in some supposedly improved form, is the meansfcommonly employed to avoid the disadvantage just described. The diiiiculty is, however only partially ameliorated and not cured. till other means have been suggested in the prior art. Thus it has been proposed to substitute soft felt for the straw of the lower portion of the crown, this felt being surrounded by a supporting band of straw and then covered with the usual hat i band. It has also been proposed to use a relatively large amount of glue in the outer part of the brim and the upper part of the crown, and a relatively small amount of glue in the inner part of the brim and lower part of the crown, thus obtaining a relatively greater and less stiffness of the parts referred to.

' In my improvement about to be described I obtain the desired flexibility of the headconforming portion, together with practical rigidity of the remainder of the hat, by making the head-conforming portion of the hat e., the inner portion of the brim and the lower portion of the crown) of soft and relatively fiexible straw and the remainder of the hat of hard and relatively stiff straw. This relative stiffness and flexibility of straw may be obtained either by varying the size of the straw, keeping its quality the same, 0r by choosing straws of different inherent flexibility, keeping the size the same. And I may, of course, in treating my improved hat with glue, use a relatively stiff glue for the stiffer parts of the hat, and a relatively weak glue for the more flexible parts of the hat, thus combining with my improvement one of the improvements of the prior art just above alluded t0.

My invention will be better understood by referring to the accompanying drawings in which Figure l represents a side elevation of a straw hat embodying one form of my invention; Fig. 2 a top view thereof, and F ig. 3 a top view of a straw hat embodying my invention in a slightly modified form.

In the drawings, the brim of the hat comprises an outer region, l, extending to within, say of the crown, and an inner region, 2, while the crown comprises an upper portion, 3,eXtending to within, say, of the brim and a' lower region, 4. The outer region of the brim and the upper portion of the crown I weave of relatively stiff straw,

`while for the inner region of the brim and the lower portion of the crown I use a relatively weak and flexible straw. In the particular type of hat shown, the relative stiffness and flexibility is secured by using relatively broad and relatively narrow straw. The type of weave throughout the entire hat shown in Figs. 1 and 2 is unchanged, while in the hat shown in Fig. 3 the inner region of the brim and the lower portion of the crown (not shown) is made of a weave different Vfrom that of which the remainder of the hat is constructed. Instead of using relatively broad and narrow straw,however, I might, if I prefer, use relatively heavy and relatively light straw, the width of the straw remaining the same. Or I might obtain the desired relative stiffness and flexibility by using straws of different type and hence differing naturally in their quality of stiffness, the sizes of the two straws being identica The hat woven as described, and molded in the usual way, may be dipped in the usual glue bath for final stiffening, but it is obvious that the glue should not be so stiff as to destroy the flexibility of the portions 2 and l of the hat by making the braid rigid or causing its separate layers to be rigidly united. In making a hat of the usual stiffened type for mens wear, I treat those portions of the hat having relatively stiff straw with stiffer and stronger glue and the remaining portion of the hat with weaker glue, thereby accentuating the combination of stiffness and flexibility embodied in the hat and preserving the flexibility of the head-conform ing region.

As a result of the mode of manufacture described, the upper portion of the crown and the outer region of the brim will be, relatively, very hard and stiff while the lower portion ofthe crown and the inner region of the brim will be, relatively, quite soft and flexible and will easily yield to pressure so as to conform to the shape of the head.

In addition to the fact that my improved hat adapts itself more readily to the wearers head than do hats of the usual manufacture, without in any way losing its general stiff features, there is the further advantage, when the invention is applied to a hat of the particular weave shown, for instance, in Figs. l and 2 of the drawings, that any bending of the brim out of its normal plane will cause the weave to open up to a very much less extent at the base of the crown than it would if the same weave as is used for the upper portion of the crown and the outer portion of the brim were used throughout the hat. In the latter case, the distance across, or width of the successive rows of the weave is so great that when such bending of the brim takes place the points of the rows project outwardly from the mean surface of the brim to a very considerable extent and present a very objectionable appearance.

I-Iaving described my invention, I claim: l. A straw hat of the character described, in which the region connecting crown and brim is made of straw braid which is per se` different from and relatively more flexible zlhan that composing the remainder of the at. f

2. A straw hat comprising a crown and brim, each of which is highly sti'ifened, connected together by straw braidv which is inherently more flexible than the straw braid composing the remainder of the hat.

3. A straw hat comprising a crown and brim each of which is stiffened with glue, connected together by straw which is inherently more flexible than the straw composing said crown and brim.

4;. A straw hat of the character described, the entire hat, except for a narrow region at the base of the crown and the inner side of the rim, being of straw braid which is per se relatively stiff and inflexible and the excepted region being of straw braid which is per se relatively flexible.

5. A straw hat of the character described, the entire hat, except for a narrow region at the base of the crown and the inner side of the rim being of relatively broad straw and the excepted region being of relatively narrow straw, the quality of the straw throughout the hat being uniform.

6. A straw hat of the character described, the entire hat, except for a narrow region at the base of the crown and the inner side of the rim, being of straw braid which is per se relatively stiff and inflexible, and the excepted region being of straw braid which is per se relatively' flexible, these relative qualities all being natural to the straw braid and independent of any stiffening substance which may be applied thereto.

7 A straw hat of the character described, the entire hat, except for a narrow region at the base of the crown and the inner side of the rim, being of braided straw which by itself and independently of any reinforcement, is relatively stiff and inflexible, and the excepted region being of braided straw which is relatively yielding and flexible.

In testimony whereof I have hereunto set my hand.

ROBERT C. MONTGOMERY. 

